Nvidia Attempting to Censor Critical Reviews?

[Misanthrope]

Just now, Carclis said:

Well I find it very hard to believe that it could be stupidity or an accident if it's just Hardware Unboxed and also three times in a row that this has happened now.

As stupid as a company that is about to release 6 different fucking cards all with the same name and model number?

 

In any case I'd like to first hear if there's any Australia based reviewers that are getting cards in a timely matter.

[Carclis]

7 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

As stupid as a company that is about to release 6 different fucking cards all with the same name and model number?

 

In any case I'd like to first hear if there's any Australia based reviewers that are getting cards in a timely matter.

Cmon man... I mentioned in the original post that two other publications (the only ones I really know of) both got samples and on time. They also both have lower viewership and I should also mention that Hardware Unboxed does the benchmarking for Techspot as well so he's essentially two sources in one.

Edit: So it looks like Tech Yes City did not receive a sample. I saw the thumbnail only and it turns out he references PC Gamer benchmarks. In any case HUB is definitely the largest of Australian publications so it's extremely unusual to see that they didn't get a sample.

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 hour ago, Thaldor said:

Because Tech Jesus is Tech Jesus. I don't think even Nvidia in their GT(X) 1030 DDR[whatever] highs would be that stupid that they would drop Tech Jesus out even if he would be salty towards Nvidia quite a few times more than others. I was first fast reading through and thought they had dropped Tech Jesus out, because he is quite salty towards Nvidia these days (like the GT 1030 screws and even the RTX 2060 review and especially teardown are quite salty in comparison to Linus or Jayz videos (from watching those videos I even thought with my tinfoilhat that Tech Jesus was bending the NDA by comparing RTX 2060 to AMD cards because from all videos it seemed like Nvidia has put some NDA on everybody to stop them comparing RTX 2060 to anything else than the GTX 1070 and GTX 1060 and Tech Jesus seemed to compare to AMD cards just so people can make their minds wether to buy used GTX 1080 around the same price or go for the RTX 2060)). I can just imagine how salty Tech Jesus would turn out to be if Nvidia was to give him the same treatment, probably everybody remembers how salty Tech Jesus was about Tom's Hardwares "Just Buy it" post

Also because tech jesus is reasonable, and Hardware Unboxed goes hyper sensationalist at literally every corner he can. Making nothing burgers into the next cataclysm. 

 

Also Tech Jesus is rather salty towards just about everyone, so the lack of favoritism is rather more important.

 

 

--- the above is if nvidia actually had a hand in this, which to be perfectly frank, I dont see as a very high probability. But I'm sure HU will make 5 other videos about it, and shame anyone he can on twitter or twitch who doesnt take his 'the only true' side.

[Thaldor]

14 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

That doesn't makes too much sense either: You know he's still going to chastise Nvidia for their treatment of Hardware Unboxed anyway.

In my opinion Tech Jesus is quite dangerous influencer. He dares to ask the right questions from the right sources and dig deep, like with the Intel and third party testing case where he actually went to the testing company to ask the questions and released everything. I don't think any company, small or huge, would like to be on the bad side of such person with huge number of followers. And yeah, Tech Jesus is going to be normal Tech Jesus and throw salt to Nvidias face anyway, but at least it's not that personal for him (I don't know how much that deep digging is Steve himself and how much is his team, but either way you don't want to get personal grudge with them, because next time they will still get your stuff with their connections and they won't hold back). And as @Curufinwe_wins said while I was writing this, Tech Jesus is very reasonable and rather than just going "this is shit" he explains why that is shit and how it could be something more than shit (aka. constructive criticsm). while he might be salty he also provides quite valuable information.

[Carclis]

14 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Also because tech jesus is reasonable, and Hardware Unboxed goes hyper sensationalist at literally every corner he can. Making nothing burgers into the next cataclysm. 

I'm not sure how you can be sensationalist with the most detailed and extensive reviews in the industry. If what he was saying was inaccurate then he would have a significant amount of data that disagrees with him, would he not? This is the guy who does 50 game benchmarks at times.

[Curufinwe_wins]

1 minute ago, Carclis said:

I'm not sure how you can be sensationalist with the most detailed and extensive reviews in the industry. If what he was saying was inaccurate then he would have a significant amount of data that disagrees with him, would he not? This is the guy who does 50 game benchmarks at times.

His data is fine (great even). His interpretation and then sensationalism of other random stuff in the industry and other reviewers over literally nothing isn't. 

[maartendc]

I mean honestly, could it be just that Nvidia regards them as less important because they have less than a million subscribers, so they just cut them out? Or a combination of not deeming them important and having been too critical according to Nvidia?

 

Like others have pointed out, Gamers Nexus is far more critical of Nvidia usually even than Hardware Unboxed. So it doesn't seem like the reason is being critical alone.

 

All things being said: I like Hardware Unboxed, and they usually do a pretty good job of their reviews and providing the data that people actually want. (I really like their extensive benchmarks, breaking it down, and I really liked their Battlefield V CPU comparison and Ray Tracing results).  I like GN's reviews as well, but they veer more into the "teardown" and modding aspects, which I am not particularly waiting for personally.

 

The only reviews I don't really like these days are... Linus'. They are very well produced and edited, but...  They are usually too dumbed down, fail to get to the point, overly dramatized, overly jokey, etc. I just don't get all the info I want / need out of them. And he is not very critical. And when he is, he is sometimes critical towards the wrong aspects of something.

 

I hope HU still do their review when they actually get / buy their GTX 2060. I would still watch it, even if it comes 2 weeks after other reviews. Why not?

[Blademaster91]

12 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

His data is fine (great even). His interpretation and then sensationalism of other random stuff in the industry and other reviewers over literally nothing isn't. 

I quit watching Hardware Unboxed because of the over sensationalized things, creating drama, and the clickbaiting.

Gamers Nexus is much more enjoyable to watch and he'll give anyone criticism, some companies get upset enough to stop sending him stuff.

[Carclis]

4 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

His data is fine (great even). His interpretation and then sensationalism of other random stuff in the industry and other reviewers over literally nothing isn't. 

I can't think of anything that particularly stands out as sensationalist.

24 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

--- the above is if nvidia actually had a hand in this, which to be perfectly frank, I dont see as a very high probability. But I'm sure HU will make 5 other videos about it, and shame anyone he can on twitter or twitch who doesnt take his 'the only true' side.

As Steve mentioned in his video he's been testing hardware for over 10 years at this point (he might have said 15) and the RTX launch has been the first time he's ever not received review samples on time. That's three times in a row this launch cycle.

[mrchow19910319]

6 hours ago, mr moose said:

If this has been him for the past two product launches and others are not effected then maybe there is a problem with him.  Maybe he did not respect the almighty Huang and had a taste of the crushing from the RT and tensor core god.

[S w a t s o n]

2 hours ago, Misanthrope said:

Why him and not Tech Jesus who is far more obnoxiously critical?

Because Tech Jesus would lay the smackdown in print and video form and then immediately procede to source all future cards from AIB's (no 3 tries with Tech Jesus) and probably ratchet up any future criticisms. Basically this Steve just isnt on other Steve's level

[Taf the Ghost]

4 minutes ago, S w a t s o n said:

Because Tech Jesus would lay the smackdown in print and video form and then immediately procede to source all future cards from AIB's (no 3 tries with Tech Jesus) and probably ratchet up any future criticisms. Basically this Steve just isnt on other Steve's level

First, I kind of love that someone just says "Tech Jesus" and everyone knows who they are talking about.

 

As for Nvidia vs GN, I think everything that happened with Volta probably just sets any stage for dealing with a manufacturer. Nvidia didn't sample Volta to anyone, so GN just bought one and performed something close to Open Heart Surgery on it. It's better for the companies to at least control some of the flows of information. Plus, Steve seems to know half of their engineering staff.

[ivan134]

1 hour ago, Misanthrope said:

As stupid as a company that is about to release 6 different fucking cards all with the same name and model number?

 

In any case I'd like to first hear if there's any Australia based reviewers that are getting cards in a timely matter.

Watch the video. He talked about this. Tweaktown is also AUS based and got the RTX 2060Q. The difference is that Tweaktown was giving Nvidia very high marks for RTX cards.

[Ravens]

It could be also that Nvidia isn't censoring him, it's just they probably don't appreciate having their press samples ripped apart as Steve usually does with all the cards they review. Unlike the board partners, Nvidia review samples are generally sent out and returned and forwarded to other reviewers. We have seen this before in some of Jayztwocents videos where he received a product that was obviously previously reviewed by someone else before him (had excessive wear and tear, etc). 

 

So basically Nvidia just wants their cards reviewed, benchmarked, and lavished with praise.. Not have the card torn apart, disassembled, heatsinks removed, die exposed, PCB design/layout made public and/or scrutinized, and high resolution photos posted online showing off all the components used, etc.

 

Especially with the making PCB layout public and posting of high resolution photos, especially of the various chips and components used, some companies really like to keep that stuff private until release to prevent competitors or Chinese bootleggers from having easy access to this pre-release.

 

Lastly another reason why Nvidia wouldn't want their cards ripped apart and it's PCB layout scrutinized is possibly that the reviewers got an early sample of the card that isn't the finalized PCB layout/revision that's sold to the public, so it doesn't serve Nvidia well if reviewers are showcasing what's under the heatsink of it's not a finalized production pcb yet.

[Thaldor]

23 minutes ago, Ravens said:

It could be also that Nvidia isn't censoring him, it's just they probably don't appreciate having their press samples ripped apart as Steve usually does with all the cards they review. Unlike the board partners, Nvidia review samples are generally sent out and returned and forwarded to other reviewers. We have seen this before in some of Jayztwocents videos where he received a product that was obviously previously reviewed by someone else before him (had excessive wear and tear, etc). 

 

So basically Nvidia just wants their cards reviewed, benchmarked, and lavished with praise.. Not have the card torn apart, disassembled, heatsinks removed, die exposed, PCB design/layout made public and/or scrutinized, and high resolution photos posted online showing off all the components used, etc.

 

Especially with the making PCB layout public and posting of high resolution photos, especially of the various chips and components used, some companies really like to keep that stuff private until release to prevent competitors or Chinese bootleggers from having easy access to this pre-release.

The other Steve also does just the same (although he has the bigger influenser shield applied) and if anyone was going to go against the NDA it would be more than getting kicked out of the party.

 

And probably even the leaders of Nintendo are smart enough to know that posting the PCB images doesn't really help AMD or Intel at all and Chinese bootleggers only need name of the card and GPU model (which both are more or less leaked to something like videocardz or other way before reviewers even get their cards) to flash them into the penny cards they have laying around. Probably only things that really would hurt Nvidia that way would be die images from the grinded and polished die that would show other than the outside with branding, but even then we talk about not really helping anyone because development cycles are months even years and even if someone was to leak full die charts a month earlier, only thing AMD would gain would be marketing that their upcoming GPU.

 

Only thing that would be hurting this way would be that Nvidia was to send reviewers binned and modified cards and taking them appart would reveal that Nvidia was providing reviewers different cards than what would be sold. But that would come out sooner or later and, oh boy, would Tech Jesus and every single other reviewer have a fild day dacing around the hospital bed of Nvidia and throw truck loads of salt into Nvidias wounds.

[Đỗ Đức Huy]

GN this or that, Steve loose all credibility in my eye with his GTX 1050ti VS 780ti video. Highly stacked deck with a top of the line 1050ti with a base clock that is 1.4 ish Ghz (versus stock 1.3 ishGHz) and comparing it to a stock GTX780ti locked at 0.9 ish GHz (while everyone and their mother got theirs to at least 1.2GHz easy). For crying out loud he got the GTX960 to be comparable to the 780ti!? Everyone knows the 960 is a more refined 760. Same performance, less power draw. At the 980 launch, everyone was so unimpress at how it is just a side grade from the 780ti!? And now GN put it same as a GTX960!? 

So yeah, the dude not getting card seeded is not the biggest lost in my mind. 

[S w a t s o n]

2 minutes ago, Đỗ Đức Huy said:

GN this or that, Steve loose all credibility in my eye with his GTX 1050ti VS 780ti video. Highly stacked deck with a top of the line 1050ti with a base clock that is 1.4 ish Ghz (versus stock 1.3 ishGHz) and comparing it to a stock GTX780ti locked at 0.9 ish GHz (while everyone and their mother got theirs to at least 1.2GHz easy). For crying out loud he got the GTX960 to be comparable to the 780ti!? Everyone knows the 960 is a more refined 760. Same performance, less power draw. At the 980 launch, everyone was so unimpress at how it is just a side grade from the 780ti!? And now GN put it same as a GTX960!? 

So yeah, the dude not getting card seeded is not the biggest lost in my mind. 

wrong, 960 is 770 is 680 is originally planned 660ti

[Đỗ Đức Huy]

1 minute ago, S w a t s o n said:

wrong, 960 is 770 is 680

*sigh

680 get rebranded with more clocks to be 770

760 is actually not a 670 but is a in between of a 660ti and a 670. 670, 680, 660ti are all GK104 part cut up differently. 760 is still GK104 but cut up in between the 660ti and 670. the 670 actually got rebranded into the 760ti that is only available to large OEM.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/7103/nvidia-geforce-gtx-760-review

GTX 960 is a new Maxwell part designed to replace the 760 in performance but at a lower power draw of 120W vs the 170W of the 760, making it more accessible to the masses.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/8923/nvidia-launches-geforce-gtx-960

So yeah, I know my stuff. I actually have used all them cards personally for at least a month each. I know what they are capable of and their relative performance and power needs.

[Lathlaer]

Wasn't he the one that made a pretty big deal out of not signing the NDA that NVIDIA sent some time ago (the one Steve from GN had consulted a lawyer about)?

 

If I don't have my youtubers mixed then maybe it's the reason he is treated that way for the past two launches. Now, it says in the OP here that he signed the new NDA but maybe it was just too late or smth? 

 

EDIT: ok, it wasn't him, it was HardOCP. Nevermind then.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Ahhhh, nVidia.

[Lathlaer]

I think it's probably a clerical/logistical error and HU is just salty that they are not important enough to be remembered all the time. Probably NVIDIA screwed up with sending the card but I wouldn't put any kind of malicious intent behind that, just incompetence. 

 

Sad that it seems to have sparked those pointless discussions which of techtubers is a bigger sellout. Most reviewers gave the RTX cool response so HU isn't some kind of leader of NVIDIA's opposition here, ergo his opinion of the RTX launch is very unlikely to have influenced NVIDIA's decision. 

 

It's funny how people are going left and right calling them white knights and everyone else sellouts - it's a fine line to walk since you've got not only online "populists" like LMG (who, by the way, trashed the RTX more than most) or Jay but also the well-beloved GN. 

 

The same thing was with this infamous NDA. It was funny to observe how people wanted to be angry at all techtubers but kind of let it slide for Steve from GN because when Linus says on WAN show that the NDA is mostly ok then he is a sellout but when Steve gets on the phone with a lawyer and says basically the same, then we need a new rhetorics so as not to criticise him too much  

[Curufinwe_wins]

3 hours ago, Carclis said:

I can't think of anything that particularly stands out as sensationalist.

As Steve mentioned in his video he's been testing hardware for over 10 years at this point (he might have said 15) and the RTX launch has been the first time he's ever not received review samples on time. That's three times in a row this launch cycle.

His bitching and raging at Linus (and others) on twitter, twitch AND YouTube for not instantly agreeing with his stupidly oversensationalized anger over Intel 'allowing the Principle Technologies' report.

 

That isn't even the worst one. It'd be one thing if he only went melodramatic in his videos. But doing that and WRONGLY calling out / degrading other tech reviewers, simply for not agreeing with him, on both social media and their own videos, is simply unprofessional and childish behavior.

[Wh0_Am_1]

Now don't get me wrong for certain product launches esp. from smaller companies whom can't afford a flop, whom have yet to build a reputation, and one review can make or break a business I think that this is an acceptable strategy. But from an entity as well known and important as Nvidia I can see this as nothing but a PR blunder, they should know that no matter what they do he is going to get their cards eventually, one way or another. He would also be able to help warn away customers whom would not satisfied with this specific product, rather instead to choosing to have them purchase their product and make exponentially more outrage later inflated by the fact that people spent money on a product that they did not fully understand. Such can only hurt their reputation, and scare away past, current, and future customers. And they are doing this at a time when AMD has finally reawakened from it's slumber, and when a competitor far larger than they is only a year from entering the market. Nvidia simply can't afford to make decisions like this right now

[Brooksie359]

34 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

I think it's probably a clerical/logistical error and HU is just salty that they are not important enough to be remembered all the time. Probably NVIDIA screwed up with sending the card but I wouldn't put any kind of malicious intent behind that, just incompetence. 

 

Sad that it seems to have sparked those pointless discussions which of techtubers is a bigger sellout. Most reviewers gave the RTX cool response so HU isn't some kind of leader of NVIDIA's opposition here, ergo his opinion of the RTX launch is very unlikely to have influenced NVIDIA's decision. 

 

It's funny how people are going left and right calling them white knights and everyone else sellouts - it's a fine line to walk since you've got not only online "populists" like LMG (who, by the way, trashed the RTX more than most) or Jay but also the well-beloved GN. 

 

The same thing was with this infamous NDA. It was funny to observe how people wanted to be angry at all techtubers but kind of let it slide for Steve from GN because when Linus says on WAN show that the NDA is mostly ok then he is a sellout but when Steve gets on the phone with a lawyer and says basically the same, then we need a new rhetorics so as not to criticise him too much  

I think he wasn't so much mad about not getting a card on time but rather that he was told the wrong embargo date. If they had told him the correct embargo date it wouldn't be as big of a deal tbh. 

[leadeater]

1 minute ago, Brooksie359 said:

I think he wasn't so much mad about not getting a card on time but rather that he was told the wrong embargo date. If they had told him the correct embargo date it wouldn't be as big of a deal tbh. 

Had he known he probably would have sourced a card, though that might not be possible after signing all the NDAs etc which have the embargoes for the 14th which is correct, but only for AIB cards.